Neurons for hunger and thirst transmit a negative-valence teaching signal

J. Nicholas Betley, Shengjin Xu, Zhen Fang Huang Cao, Rong Gong, Christopher J. Magnus, Yang Yu and Scott M. Sternson ()
Additional contact information
J. Nicholas Betley: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Shengjin Xu: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Zhen Fang Huang Cao: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Rong Gong: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Christopher J. Magnus: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Yang Yu: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Scott M. Sternson: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Nature, 2015, vol. 521, issue 7551, 180-185

Abstract: Abstract Homeostasis is a biological principle for regulation of essential physiological parameters within a set range. Behavioural responses due to deviation from homeostasis are critical for survival, but motivational processes engaged by physiological need states are incompletely understood. We examined motivational characteristics of two separate neuron populations that regulate energy and fluid homeostasis by using cell-type-specific activity manipulations in mice. We found that starvation-sensitive AGRP neurons exhibit properties consistent with a negative-valence teaching signal. Mice avoided activation of AGRP neurons, indicating that AGRP neuron activity has negative valence. AGRP neuron inhibition conditioned preference for flavours and places. Correspondingly, deep-brain calcium imaging revealed that AGRP neuron activity rapidly reduced in response to food-related cues. Complementary experiments activating thirst-promoting neurons also conditioned avoidance. Therefore, these need-sensing neurons condition preference for environmental cues associated with nutrient or water ingestion, which is learned through reduction of negative-valence signals during restoration of homeostasis.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14416 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:521:y:2015:i:7551:d:10.1038_nature14416

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature14416

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().